Tonj rules

The goal is to empty your reserve, your hand and your waste pile before your opponent does. The first to do so wins the hand and scores 30 points plus the cards still left on the opponent (see Scoring).

If both players reach a deadlock where neither can progress, the winner is decided by comparing the "burden" (the cards remaining).

Tonj is for exactly two players, each playing for themselves. There are no teams or partners.

A match can be a single hand, or a series of hands up to a target score set by the room. In a series the players alternate who starts later hands, and a tie at the target counts as a drawn match. The series format does not change any playing rule.

Two full 52-card decks are used, making 104 cards, with no Jokers. Every physical card is unique, and which deck it came from has no effect on whether a move is legal.

Rank order from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10 … 2. When ranks are equal, suits rank ♠ then ♥ then ♦ then ♣ (used to decide who starts).

On the foundations cards are built upward: A, 2 … 10, J, Q, K. For colours: ♥ and ♦ are red, ♠ and ♣ are black.

Each player starts with:

• Reserve: 13 cards; 12 face down with one face-up card on top.
• Houses: 4 face-up cards (each starts a house).
• Hand: 35 face-down cards.
• Waste pile: empty.

In total on the table: 8 houses (4 from each player) and 8 foundations (two per suit).

Who starts?

The player with the higher exposed reserve card starts:

1. Ranks are compared (A highest, then K … down to 2).
2. If ranks are equal, suits are compared: ♠ > ♥ > ♦ > ♣.
3. If rank and suit are identical (possible with two decks), the exposed house cards are compared in a fixed order from nearest to the reserve to farthest, using the same comparison.
4. If all four are also identical, the server decides with an audited random coin; there is no human choice.

Available cards (those you may move)

• The face-up top card of your own reserve. When it is played, the next reserve card is turned up immediately.
• The outer (top) card of every house; the houses are shared.
• The card you turned from your hand during your current turn.

Your own waste pile is not a source to play from; it only comes back into play when it is recycled into the hand.

Foundations

• An empty foundation accepts only an Ace.
• A foundation is built in the same suit, ascending: A, 2 … 10, J, Q, K.
• A card placed on a foundation never moves again.
• There are 8 foundations because there are two copies of each suit.

Houses

• Build downward, exactly one rank at a time, alternating colours (red/black).
• An empty house accepts any available card, but the reserve priority (below) rules before a hand card may be turned.
• Moving a group: several cards may move together only if they form a properly built run and could be moved card by card using the available empty houses. The adopted rule: k cards may move if k ≤ (empty houses other than the destination) + 1. The server always validates.

Loading the opponent

You may place an available card on the opponent's reserve top or the opponent's waste top if it is the same suit and exactly one rank above or below it (±1). You may not move cards onto your own reserve or waste, except by discarding a hand card to your waste to end your turn.

These priorities are compulsory, in this order:

1. Your reserve to a foundation: if your reserve top can go to a foundation, you must do it first.
2. Any available card to a foundation: if any available card can go to a foundation, that is compulsory before any other move; if there are several options, you choose among them.
3. Fill an empty house from the reserve: if a house is empty and your reserve is not empty, you must fill the empty house from the reserve before turning a hand card.

Every placement must be legal and every source card must be available. An unavailable or illegal move is rejected and nothing in the game changes.

In practice: an empty house is filled from the reserve while the reserve is not empty; once the reserve is empty, other cards may fill it.

On your turn you make your legal moves from the reserve and houses, then turn a hand card when the priorities allow. A turn may contain several moves.

• The card turned from the hand must be played if it can be. While it waits, it is the only movable card.
• If it cannot be played legally, you throw it onto your waste pile by hand and your turn ends.
• If your reserve runs out, it stays empty.
• The turn continues until you discard to the waste, end the turn, no further move exists, or the turn passes through a TONJ call.

Recycling the waste into the hand

If you need to turn a new card and your hand is empty, the waste pile is turned over to become your new hand with no shuffle, in the correct flip order (the oldest waste card first), and the new top card is turned. The server does this by itself, with no press from you, in exactly two moments: at the start of your own turn, and right away when your hand runs out in the middle of your own turn. The waste is never turned over during the opponent's turn.

Edge case: if your last hand card cannot be played and is discarded to the waste, ending your turn, the waste is not turned over immediately; it stays available for your opponent to load onto during their turn, and becomes a new hand only when the turn comes back to you.

In the digital version a move that breaks a priority or a building rule is never committed. Instead:

• An attempt that breaks a priority or a building rule is not executed; it opens a "claim", during which your opponent has a short window to call TONJ.
• Illegal placement + valid call: the attempt is cancelled, the offender's turned card goes to their waste, and the turn passes to the caller.
• Omitted compulsory priority + valid call: the server performs the correct compulsory move, then the turn passes to the caller.
• Window expires with no call: an illegal placement stays rejected; an omitted priority is corrected by the server performing the compulsory move, and play continues. An illegal board is never allowed just because the opponent did not call.
• The call is unavailable when no claim exists; a false call is rejected with no change to the game.

A turn timeout never opens a claim; the automatic action is always the compulsory or legal one.

A hand ends in a normal win when your reserve, hand and waste are all empty. The winner scores:

30 + (opponent's hand cards) + (opponent's waste cards) + 2 × (opponent's reserve cards)

When it is established that neither player can progress, each player's "burden" is computed:

Burden = hand cards + waste cards + 2 × reserve cards

• The player with the lower burden wins the hand and scores the difference between the two burdens, with no 30-point bonus.
• Equal burdens = a drawn hand.

A stalemate is declared in two cases: (a) each player has gone through their whole hand and waste cycle with no placement since the last progress; or (b) the same position (all piles and the side to move) occurs three times with no card reaching a foundation in between. House-to-house shifts do not count as progress, and at most 30 are allowed per turn.

• A hand ends with a normal win (emptying reserve, hand and waste) or a stalemate decided by burden.
• The match is a single hand unless the room sets a target score; then hands continue until the target is reached, with the players alternating who starts. A tie at the target means a drawn match.
• The hand result (burdens, points and totals) is shown in the end-of-hand summary.

• Watch the priorities: your reserve top to a foundation first, then any available card to a foundation, then fill an empty house from the reserve before turning a hand card.
• Each reserve card counts double in the burden and the win score, so emptying it matters.
• Remember that a card placed on a foundation never comes back; think before building.
• You can load a card onto the opponent's reserve or waste if it is the same suit and one rank apart.
• If you think your opponent broke a priority, watch for the short TONJ window and call in time.
• The last card you discard to the waste stays available for your opponent to load onto before the turn returns to you.

• Reserve — 13 cards per player; the top is face up, the rest face down.
• Hand — 35 face-down cards from which you turn one on your turn.
• Waste — the pile of cards that could not be played; it returns to the hand with no shuffle.
• Houses — 8 shared columns built downward in alternating colours.
• Foundations — 8 shared piles built from Ace to King in the same suit.
• Loading — placing a card on the opponent's reserve or waste, same suit and one rank apart.
• Burden — hand cards + waste cards + 2 × reserve cards.
• CALL TONJ — the opponent's call when a priority or building rule is broken.
• Stalemate — a state in which neither player can progress.